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Digital Transformation: The 3 Core Focus Areas for ECE C-levels

From AI to the cloud—and all the apps, bots, and big data in between—keeping up with technology is one of the biggest challenges your ECE business will ever face. That’s why you need to start your digital transformation today. Because apart from death and taxes, tech is the only other certainty. And in the world of business, there are those who get ahead of it and those who get left behind. The good news is, making the technological changes your business needs to succeed isn't as complicated as it seems.

What is digital transformation? (And why should you care.)

Digital transformation is the introduction of tech to help businesses speed up, innovate, optimize, and grow.But as a C-level leader with a million-and-one things on your to-do list, you know introducing any new process takes time (and money)—resources that you don’t always have. Like it or not, it’s time to prioritize.

According to research published in the Wall Street Journal, digital transformation has been identified as the #1 risk to business. “Existing operations and legacy technology infrastructure pose a risk to companies that can’t transform quickly enough to compete against companies that were ‘born digital,'” the authors said. So, forget your to-do list and lean in. Focus on implementing digital transformation in these three core areas, and you'll be lightyears ahead of the competition.

Focus Area #1: Get passionate, digital-savvy leaders in place

Let’s be real: transformation ain’t easy.That’s why you need a strong, digital-savvy captain to weather the storm. According to a study by Zenger and Folkman, the most important traits for a successful leader are someone who inspires, innovates, aces communication, develops others, and displays awesome technical expertise. When it comes to digital transformation, those traits stick: making sure employees are on the same page, can communicate easily, and are excited by the changes is vital to your success.

As Joris Merks, head of program from Google Digital Academy, puts it, passion is the most important thing: “You need to have the capability to win people over to the challenge you’re trying to crack... You need to be willing to go the extra mile in the short term to win the potential reward in the long term… [and you need to get] energy from going through the ride of transformation."

What next? Take a look at the leaders in your company and ask yourself: “Who would be best placed to lead our digital transformation?”

Focus Area #2: Give your customers a dose of TLC

Customers are the most important part of any business. Without them, there would be no you.And that’s exactly why you need to show them you care. From video calls becoming the standard, to real-time messaging replacing email as the comms favorite, customer service is set for some astronomical changes over the next 10 years. It’s a big mountain to climb, so here are a few pointers to get you started:

  • Know your customers: Use data-based analytics to get to know who your customers are and what makes them tick.
  • Shout out loud: Make sure your ECE brand is known and loved by using customer-centric marketing like customer stories, reviews, and testimonials.
  • Connect like you mean it: Look for apps that help you ace communication with customers. This means talking to them in a language they understand and using the tech tools they're already comfortable with.
  • Streamline like a pro: Use tech to make payments, enrollment, and other mundane processes a total breeze.

What next? Design a customer service roadmap for the next six months using these pointers as a starting place.

Focus Area #3: Prioritize innovation and integration

From now on, there are only two words you need for your DT mantra: Innovation and integration

Big brands like Google and Apple have been focused on innovation for years (think: Google’s Eight Pillars of Innovation)—staying ahead of the game is what defines them. The problem these days is most businesses are switching on to the same thing. Compared to when Google started out, there are now hundreds of options out there for an ECE business to utilize—from parent-teacher communication apps to adaptable reporting software—and all of them claim to help optimize your organization.

But (remember your mantra?) the thing you really need to look out for is integration.After all, why waste time using five new tech tools that each serve a separate purpose, when you could use one simple tool that does it all? The awesome thing about integration is that once you’ve opened the flow of information across your business, it creates space for more innovation—and so the cycle continues.

What next? Find a tool that integrates it all, and helps you become the most innovative ECE business you can be.

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Meet The Author

Hope Dasher is a marketing professional with years of SEO content writing and social media strategy experience. Hope had a Bachelor's degree from The University of Texas at Dallas in Psychology and Child Development and an emphasis on language. She has extensive knowledge of the childcare system, effective marketing strategies, and copywriting. Hope serves as a Content Specialist for the Marketing team at LineLeader by ChildcareCRM.

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